hospital stay

The way they treat patients is pretty sad. Unfortunately, even in a hospital you need to tip people for decent treatment. Next time, (hopefully their won't be one) give the nurse and doctor and few bucks and see how things change. You'd think it would be different in a hospital but it's not.

Sounds more like a jail than a hospital.  No, jails in some countries are better than this, they serve you good food, laundry is provided and done for you, and are free to stay in.

khanh44 wrote:

Just came back from 2.5 days staying at Tu Du hospital. What a difference between Phu San Quoc Te, an international hospital and Tu Du a national hospital.

My wife and I signed up for the 2-bed room with air conditioner, fridge, tv and cot. Throughout the entire 2.5 days stay not seen 1 of the 4 requested items. First day was put on a bed to be shared with another husband and wife in a corridor of the hospital. Seeing how awkward this was my wife went to buy a bamboo mattress so we slept outdoors. Got tonnes of mosquito bites to show for it.

2nd day my wife had her operation. She was in great deal of pain after the operation to the point any movement by her would illicit crying screams. They put us in a 3-bed room with a ceiling fan that barely rotates. No air conditioner, fridge, tv or cot. Room was hot and wife was in pain. Spent the entire night fanning her.

Whatever Vietnamese I knew I tried to speak with the nurses. They laughed at me and even scolded me for not wearing my shirt. Something along the line I have to wear my shirt or I will get yelled at.  Noticed the nurses to put it bluntly snobby to other patients constantly scolding them. Had a fight break out between security and patient during my stay there because the nurse said something unpleasant.

I just feel bad for those others that were in the same condition as me that had to come from far away and signed up for air conditioned room only to get a room with not even a functioning fan. Met some that came from Long Xuyen, Dak Lak and a couple that flew in.

Will definitely stick with Phu San Quoc Te if I had a choice. What a big difference in hospital care though Tu Du has a great reputation in treatment.

The difference is the building and service. The doctors are the same. Doctors usually drive between those hospital. If there is any difficult operation, the patient will be transferred to Tu Du hospital. There does not have enough equipment although they look better than Tu Du.

Why don't you hire a room in the international hospital? 1.8m/day. .

When I was in Vietnam with my family last year, my stepdad got sick and he had to go to a local hospital in Saigon.  I just couldn't believe the conditions of his room, and the entire hospital in general.  Cockroaches everywhere.  Had to share a room with another patient with no privacy wall.  No pillow, no blanket, no bed sheets.  Bathroom had mould on the tiles, toilet seat was missing, floor of bathroom was covered with ants.  Not to mention the staff were very rude.  When the nurses took his blood, they literally shoved the needle into his arm, and when he shouted in pain, the nurses were making fun of him, and saying "Oh please stop, hurts! hurts!" in broken English, and laughing at him. 

Because he cannot speak Vietnamese, and no one in the hospital can speak English or Cantonese, my wife and I decided to bring lawn chairs into his room and sleep there for the night so that we can act as translators if anything came up. 

I know Vietnam is a developing country and we shouldn't expect local hospitals to be on par with what we're used to, but seriously, for patients who are sick, dying, in pain, etc, I don't understand why they can't keep these important buildings clean and sanitized.  Not even a pillow or a blanket, just sleeping on a bare mattress.  A toilet that's missing the seat with ants on the floor, lol.  A ceiling fan that runs continuously and the nurses refuse to turn it off, leaving us chilly while sleeping.  You'd think in a building where people are in greatest need and care they would try to minimize infections and not make you feel like a prisoner.

At least I know if I ever get sick or hurt, I always told my wife to bring me to FV no matter how expensive it is (my travel insurance would cover it anyway).  My stepdad made a mistake though, he wanted to go to the nearest hospital rather than wait a few more minutes to go to an international one, he was really sick, but it wasn't an emergency type situation, he could've easily waited 10 more minutes to go to FV or something.

Needless to say, it was one of the longest nights of my life, sleeping in that room with the other patient, who seemed to have mental issues and leaves a mess in the bathroom.  Well at least her mess may have killed some of the ants lol

2 things I hate/ fear here in Vn, hospital (especially down the country side) and doing paperwork.

Wish your wife a speedy recovery.

cth wrote:

2 things I hate/ fear here in Vn, hospital (especially down the country side) and doing paperwork.

Wish your wife a speedy recovery.

You'll get both at the same time if you get really sick.

Dejavu.dot wrote:

Why don't you hire a room in the international hospital? 1.8m/day. .

The problem isn't the money. If someone did a review of their experience in certain hospital I may have read it and known about the problems but I haven't come across one yet.

Usually when one registers for a specific hospital stay with amenities don't you think it's expected the hospital provides it otherwise if they can't they would tell you to pick another choice. And my other choice would be the international hospital for 1.8m/day.

If you ever seen your wife suffer trust me money is never an issue. And no amount of money thrown at them would get you top notch rooms. Some have tried already. And they don't differentiate between those that paid millions more for service in advance than those that paid less or people with or without insurance.

Khanh
Just stopping by the forum for a quick visit.
While I am sorry to hear about your wife, I will have to blame you for this mess partly if not wholly for getting your wife into this mess.

khanh44 wrote:

The problem isn't the money. If someone did a review of their experience in certain hospital I may have read it and known about the problems but I haven't come across one yet.

Come on. This forum is full of posts warning about the lousy state of hospitals in Vietnam. Your wife should know about this as well.

I, for one, have written about them and recommend which ones expats should use when being sick.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=223985https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=334086https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=184138

If you are sincere in your statement about putting your and your family's health above money, I repeat my previous recommendations
The problem is if you suffer serious (or quite serious) illness or need specialist treatment. In that case, you are in deep trouble. The public (even some of the private) hospitals have neither capacity nor the expertise for that.   
That is where health insurance is very useful.

So what is the conclusion? If you value your life, pay the money to get proper insurance. For myself, I know that if anything serious happens to me, I can always pay a flight ticket to BKK and check into Bumungrad (one of Asia's best hospitals) and get treatment to be fully paid by my insurance.
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=164370


Sorry about sounding harsh, but the truth is that living in Vietnam is not easy. It is cheap, but you pay back in other ways: your health is one of the indirect costs. I have warned people several times about the health and food system in Vietnam for a long time.
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=221956

yes my fault for not having the time to spend reading every forum post for hours.

khanh44 wrote:

yes my fault for not having the time to spend reading every forum post for hours.

Hey, Khanh, you've been married less than a year haven't you, maybe you should check your wife's warranty, you may be able to take her back, and exchange her for one that works better?

........

I know you're joking but I think most people would considering she is 36 years old. I would never trade her for anything. We've been through a lot from the miscarriage and having to suck the baby out at Tu Du to the most recent having her ovarian tumuor removed.

It seems some people are referring money as the problem. We were quoted $15 mil for the operation. We could have done it for $2 mil at Dong Nai hospital and be 70% covered where her medical insurance is but we chose Tu Du for it's reputation. No question we are happy with the medical treatment but patient care leaves a lot to be desired.

I don't see how it is my fault because I didn't read numerous postings posted before I joined this forum. If anything is my fault it is over looking patient care at a highly reputable hospital.

Anyways this is my last post here. I don't post often here for this very reason. I just wanted to help Expats be aware of hospital care but am being accused of being a cheapie.

Our son was born at Tu Du 3.5 years ago. My wife thought that it was the best hospital in Vietnam for having babies.
We had a private room because I hired the other bed in the room and we had good service because I tipped very well. Thinking back I hate that I did that because it is likely some other poor family suffered because of it.

Last year my wife was pregnant and she wanted to return there but I decided that we were going to use Hanh Phuc hospital. She was angry at me about it until we stayed our first night in the hospital. I saw her crying and asked her what was wrong and she told me how sorry she was for not listening to me before with our first child.
You should have seen her face when the nurse refused to take her tip money, the nurse smiled at her and said she is already paid to do her job, no need to pay anything extra.

I've heard good and bad things about FV hospital but I know for us Hanh Phuc is the best.

Lol so true. Her face lit up when I told her toilet paper was not neccessary at Phu San Quoc Te.

Does Hanh Phuc allow husband to be with wife while she gives birth?

Yes

Are the hospital staff in Sagon as multiskilled as the rural staff,  I went past My Lai ' hospital ' today, around 3pm, it was still about 32C, and humid as hell, but it must have been slow day there, quite a few of the staff, all dressed in their finest, hygienic white uniforms, were all outside, cleaning the grounds and doing the gardening. Great to have such dedicated, and talented staff manning VN hospitals.

khanh44 wrote:

Lol so true. Her face lit up when I told her toilet paper was not neccessary at Phu San Quoc Te.

Does Hanh Phuc allow husband to be with wife while she gives birth?

Husband stays, gets his own bed and meals. VIP birth suite for a normal delivery cost us around 28mil.